Learning to See What Others Don’t at Faster Speeds
We’ve all wondered at one time or another how others see incredible things we don’t. Especially in extreme sports, we see moves that seem impossible to see even when we rewind the footage in slow motion – and yet our sports stars continually make the impossible a reality.
Many of us wonder how people seem to be able to slow time down and to see and react much faster than others. And we wonder, “How in the World do they do that?!”
Do they slow time down? OR, is their mind faster than the time we’re on? IS it just because of talent and innate abilities? Or can we learn to see faster ourselves just like them?
I chose to go with the latter viewpoint. As long as I can remember, I’ve always looked for any ways that will enable me to see faster, to comprehend faster, to react faster. No matter how small, I found that each new thing we add to our arsenal is yet another attribute of streaming-lining for efficiency. All these things translate into to physical movement being faster as well. Why wouldn’t they after all?
So, I’ll give you a few things I enjoy doing to help me see more, see faster, and react faster. You might think of them being inconsequential – that is, only until you try them and then discover for yourself the benefits in the power of doing instead of miscalculations of intellectualizing.
My first example you might say I’m looking for a way to write off my XBOX 360 on my taxes for mentioning it in an e-mail. Ha, you’re cleverer than I thought. Others, that know me will tell you I’m still a big kid – which I won’t deny. But, I’m sure you’ve noticed how young kids comprehend computer and video games at light speed, right? Well, why wouldn’t they, when they have grown up with lightning fast speeds in most graphics on computer and TV’s in their faces day after day?
If you’ve ever really watched the incredible speed at which characters in video games move, it’s a no brainer to know that real human beings don’t move that fast. Most adults will just write that off as cartoon behavior. But really, if a character is moving much faster than “humanly possible”, then children are really learning to respond with super fast reflexes, aren’t they? Aren’t they learning to see and comprehend at super fast speeds right from an early age? Of course they are.
The martial arts characters in these games move at diabolical speeds and the kids are learning to see and comprehend what most adults can’t even fathom. Any eight year old will most likely smoke you with a joystick game controller in their hands in a heartbeat if you haven’t played much before.
If you abhor the violence of martial arts, then you might like to try a racing game like Burnout Paradise where the graphics alone will blow you away in the detail and realism. Here, you’re driving the fastest most supped up cars imaginable at speeds that just are ridiculously fast comparing them to in the real world. Speeds that on a real street would kill you and everyone near you in an instant. The speeds and graphics alone are exhilarating to experience and fun.
However, in the pure fantasy of escape which a game is supposed to be, here you have an opportunity to teach the brain where to look to see farther ahead in the road – and to concentrate and focusing at new speeds which enable the reflexes to respond much faster than they would encounter in normal everyday life. It is an exciting time to grow up in with this kind of technology.
Instead of just writing it off as a “game” it might be a good idea to reframe many video games these day and call them simulators where we learn to see in spite of the sun glaring in your eyes; to see in spite of other vehicles racing in front of us, past us, and all around you at flashing speeds. In these lightning fast simulators, you’re learning new skills you might while learning how to respond to them with ease and accuracy. As an adult you learn to see, comprehend, and react faster by rehearsing the wickly fast speeds of “children’s video games”.
These might be the very skills that will help you in all you do and may even perhaps save your life when you encounter a scenario where thinking and responding calm and collected may save your life.
Instead of dismissing video games as just “games children play”, by playing them you have an opportunity to slow your breath down, to see with wider vision instead of tunnel vision, to get used to seeing at impossible speeds and to look and think ahead. Amongst all the fun you may have, you might even encounter the incredible opportunity to bond with your own children while.
So what happens when you begin playing and reacting to impossible speeds on a regular basis? In a sense, you’ve gained the power of slowing time down. You start seeing what others watching you completely miss. You start reacting with lightning reflexes while remaining calm. Your breathing almost automatically begins slowing down as you learn to accommodate your new found comfortability factor with blazing speeds.
